Holidailies Prompt: Describe your best or worst memory from this past year.

Artist Unknown

Back in November a woman died on the railroad tracks near my warehouse.

The initial news-reports were not correct.

I was working at my desk when I heard a train breaking hard- hard enough that I noticed it- after years and years of working in the warehouse I don’t really heard the trains anymore.

I put it out of my mind and finished my work.

When I went to catch my train I saw people streaming up from the train platform so I knew there was a problem.

So this is what happened-  a woman jumped or fell from the bridge above the tracks- which is really a street and a sidewalk-  and just as she did a freight train came from the tunnel under the bridge and she landed on top  the Engine car and died.

The place where she was reported as being hit is where the train stopped.

There wasn’t any followup so the news story was not corrected. I hated that. It’s like her tragedy didn’t matter- and it did. She did matter.

On my train ride home that night I remember people being more quiet then usual- and by that I mean when someone is hit by a train on the ride home after the incident  people are animated and they talk really loud.

It’s a reaction to death- like if you talk loud enough death will stay away from you.

This time someone said, ” the holidays do that to some people.”

I’m pretty sure they meant the death that had just taken place behind us a few hours before.

I’m not sure how I feel about the holidays this year, but I think I’d rather think of it as something to look forward too instead of fearing.

Artist Unknown